Barrissoka: Falling Stars
by Lordhadrian
Summary: The story picks up after the events of "The Jackals" and "Legend of the White Jedi". Ablok Seveten, A Mandolorian warrior, is obsessed with Barriss Offee and tries to stalk her and Ahsoka, with terrifying results. Can Barriss escape his maniacal agenda to possess her?


Barrissoka: Falling Stars

It was a cold night in the grand Citadel of the Wailing Army of Planet Tambler, and the mercenary Mandolorian, Ablok Seveten, was restless. He tried to sleep but he had the dream again. It was a strong version of the dream, almost real. He dreamed of her. The vision was of a wedding, and Seveten felt joy in the vision, joy that it would be a marriage blessed by his God, a marriage to a woman he had met once under harrowing circumstances at the Jedi Temple but desired with the heat of a thousand suns. The dream of this woman was a gift of prophecy, and Seveten murmured a praise to the Great God Sakul for giving this dream. "Sakul glora en malgajo!" he felt himself waking from the restless slumber as he whispered his glory.

Ablok woke up with a start, and looked around. He smiled. "Deziras verdan bero!" his eyes went wide "She will be mine!" he gleamed.

"Ahsoka, wake up!" Barriss smiled, trying to gently push her out of bed.

Ahsoka buried her face into her pillow and almost refused to moved. "Mffrrrm." She mumbled deep into the soft pillow.

Barriss gave her a small shake and tried to motivate her to wake up.

"We're over the world of Tambler Majoris. Come on! Everyone's getting dressed and we are getting ready for the Festival of Sakul! It's going to be fantastic!"

Ahsoka groaned and stayed still, clamping her eyes shut "Just...a few more hours! Come on, Barry."

Barris watched as Ahsoka tried to flop the blanket over her head.

"Ahsoka! You knew we would be stopping on Tambler in a few hours and enjoying the festival. You should not have had so much to drink last night!"

"It's Asajj's fault! She had the bottles out."

Barriss smiled and kept shaking Ahsoka to motivate her to wake up.

"Everyone will be waiting on us. We'll be landing in an hour."

Barriss spoke in sweet words and lay on top of her partner. Barriss smiled as she leaned close to Ahsoka's ear.

Ahsoka tried with difficulty to hold onto sleep. "Mmmm, your hands are cold." Ahsoka smiled and turned to face Barriss. Ahsoka kept her eyes closed, still trying to pretend to be asleep.

"Okay. Let's get ready." They got up to get dressed.

Ahsoka had a big grin on her face as the two walked to the cockpit of Asajj's ship. Ventress was piloting down to the surface while Conradin navigated. Conradin looked over and smiled at the ladies.

"Another wonderful day in paradise!" he greeted.

Riyo Chuchi was there as well, smiling "Good Morning!" She beamed.

Ventress concentrated on landing the ship, but made a slight smile, suddenly sensing that the two were unusually happy. Ventress flashed a loud grin, long enough only for Ahsoka to see. Barriss still blushed in the company of others and even though they were only holding hands, she still considered her feelings for Ahsoka to be incredibly private.

Conradin had sensed it, and looked away to concentrate on his post as he and Barriss smiled a morning greeting to each other.

"The festival is in full swing, we should be able to watch the Parade of Sakul, the Wailing Chorus and the Great Geedziĝo Ceremonio!" Riyo talked excitedly of all the events taking place.

The Parade was like any other, with floats, marching bands and assorted groups celebrating the blessings of Sakul. There was the Chorus of Tamblers, or the Wailing Chorus. They would sing with joy and sorrow of the many tales of creation. Most of the singing was sadness, but the Tamblers flagellated themselves with paradoxical joy at the sadness. The sadder the singing, the happier they became in their devotion to Sakul.

The Great Ceremony would be the finishing event, a ritual that could be anything. A Wedding, a Sacrifice, a Rebirth, a Story, a Contest, etc. And it could be of any individual. Barriss was looking forward to the Ceremony, as she very much enjoyed the traditions of other cultures, while Most of the others were anxious to see the vast parade that could last for days since it traveled all around the planet on a single highway designed for the Pomp and circumstance of the parade.

After a smooth landing, the group parted from the ship. There was an element of security amidst the throngs of people celebrating. The group went their separate ways to enjoy the festival in any direction they wanted. Tambler was a free, neutral world with no involvement in the Clone Wars, except as observers. Their Wailing army took great delight as minstrels and poets, singing of great and terrible deeds, but never participating.

"Hey, Barriss" Ahsoka marveled over an ornate pamphlet "We can take a tour of the Kew Gardens and the Baobab hills. It says we can rent a skiff and tour the botanical reserves of Tambler! Want to get lost in the bushes with me?"

Barriss blushed at the Togruta's mischievious double entendres, and gave her a playful push. "You have to stop thinking such things! I'd rather enjoy the flowers and the baobab trees. There will be plenty of time for everything here during the festival." Barriss gave her a chastising smile, but then kissed her gently on the face.

They ran to the rental house together, grabbing a modest skiff for two. They passed many other attractions, and food vendors and exotic entertainers in the city. Barriss and Ahsoka could almost spend a week on all the things they could do just getting to the Skiff house. But the gardens were a quiet place, with an intimate sun shining down, and a bloom of rare colorful flowers that only encompassed the landscape but once a year.

Ahsoka and Barriss giggled with excitement and embarrassment as they struggled for a few seconds to learn how to operate the simple craft.

"Barriss, you're doing it wrong! You have to let your foot up from the clutch!" Ahsoka smiled.

"This skiff must be vintage!" Barriss chuckled "The engines are sputtering and the hover vents sound clogged."

"She'll hold together!" Ahsoka grinned as they glided out of the rental house towards the Gardens of Kew. Barriss soon found it easy to control after a few uncertain moments. They were so busy joking around with the craft, they did not take notice of a quiet Mandolorian in Deathwatch style armor enter the Skiff house. The warrior rented another old skiff and slowly exited, following them...

For a short time, Barriss would sample some of the plants, smelling their fragrances and admiring their colors in the trees and fields. Ahsoka smiled and just enjoyed letting the sun blast her face with warmth. "It's so peaceful out here. I can't even hear the celebrations in the city." She noticed.

Barriss did not look up from the flower bed she tended "There's a dampener around the Kew Gardens that blocks out all the sounds from the city. Sort of like a shield. Works both ways, if I understand. The city would not hear anything going on in the gardens..." Barriss smiled a naughty smile as she got back on board the skiff and flew around above the trees "We could make lots of noises out here, and no one would hear us!" She whispered a lusty breath at Ahsoka and giggled.

Ahsoka playfully kissed her and bumped her with a shoulder "It's your turn to stop thinking of such things! Maybe I want to just admire the baobab trees..." Ahsoka and Barriss started kissing with a little more passion.

They did not notice the skiff behind them closing in, driven by a mysterious man in Mando armor. A man who started to seeth with a supernatural jealousy as he watched them. He started to speed up as he saw Ahsoka holding Barriss' hand in the driver's seat. They were kissing with deep passion.

Warrior Seveten, who chafed at the sight, felt a religious calling, a divine mission to claim a woman he did not know nor had ever really met. But his heart was the heart of obsession, a curse from his God Sakul. A curse he took to be a blessing. And he was determined to fulfill that "blessing"

Ahsoka giggled as they both quietly plotted things in their minds together, plotting love schemes alone out in the garden.

"Ahsoka..." Barriss gasped with dizzy lust.

"Like you said, no one will hear us..." Ahsoka almost grinned...but then she looked up at what was behind their skiff. Her face became deadly serious, and all mirth was gone "Brace yourself. NOW!" Ahsoka held Barriss with survival instinct as Seveten rammed their skiff. The impact threw the Jedi into a shock and whiplash. Barriss gasped and almost choked on the hit.

"We've got to get out of here! NOW!" Ahsoka jumped up and lit her saber, staring at Seveten as Barriss frantically too the controls.

"What...?" She had no time to think as she started evasive manuevers. "Who is behind us?!"

The Mando's skiff rammed up against them again, and they ran a chase through the trees and fields in a desperate terror. Ahsoka stared at the warrior with a deadly stare. His helmet was on, but she recognized his vibe. She knew him almost instantly. "Seveten!" She gritted her teeth. More than just an attack, Ahsoka knew that the Warrior Seveten was here to take Barriss. His monstrous fixation showed he would never stop until she was in his clutches.

Seveten rammed them again in the high speed chase through the Kew gardens. Branches were snapped, birds were scattered as they flew furiously. Getting angry, Ahsoka threw her hand up and pushed away the Mando's skiff with a fist full of Force power. Seveten almost lost control but steered at them again. Barriss glanced behind her just long enough to see the Hunter in his cold armor trailing them. She sensed his feelings, and they chilled her. She was chilled NOT because he was filled with hate. On the contrary, she sensed love from him, an undying love that would not be stopped. A love that would burn everyone else in her life if he could. Who knew love could create such a fear. He wanted her, but Barriss could not fathom why. She did not know this ruthless mercenary. Could he be misguided? Lonely? Or was she a trophy for him to conquer? He could be pitied, but he was violent. Whatever passed for "love" in him repelled her. Just as Ahsoka was concerned for Barriss' safety, Barriss was concerned for Ahsoka. There was no room for a third wheel to the Hunter.

Ahsoka held him at bay with the Force, and even tried to damage and crumple his skiff as they flew.

"AHSOKA! DUCK!" Barriss shouted over the ribbling of the strained skiff engines. The skiffs were now going faster than they were ever designed to fly, and smoke peppered from the exhaust vents from the stress. But Ahsoka was a good listener and ducked as more tree branches were missed. Getting hit at this speed would be fatal.

Seveten of the Mandolorians was tired of the cat and mouse chase. He aimed his missile at them. Stooping over to level it at them, he fired it.

"BARRISS! INCOMING!" Ahsoka grabbed Barriss and they jumped off the speeding skiff. The missile blasted its engines and obliterated the craft. Barriss was able to instinctively land a little more softly with her levitating discipline, but Ahsoka landed roughly and did not move. Barriss ran to her as the skiff sputtered and crashed nearby.

"Ahsoka! NO! You can't be dead! Please you can't be dead!" she pulled up Ahsoka and held her in her arms. Ahsoka gasped and breathed, but winced in pain.

"My whole body feels like how you look right now" Ahsoka almost cracked a smile at Barriss' fearful expression.

Barriss picked her up and carried her with determination. Ahsoka felt aches and pains all over, and some of her limbs hurt to move. Maybe her arm was boken.

"We've got to get out of here. We've got to...get back to the city!"

"Barriss...it's that mercenary. Seveten. I think he wants us dead."

"I KNOW what he wants!" Barriss curled her lip in disgust as she tried to carry the Togrutan through the botanical garden. Warrior Seveten steered his skiff at full speed and turned to fly towards them.

"You've got to run, Barriss!" Ahsoka tried to argue "Seveten is coming. You need to find the others!"

"I won't leave you!" Barriss insisted "You're still too weak to face him alone!"

"Barriss! It's not me he's after!" Barriss hurried into a forest of Baobab trees as the humming engines of Seveten's skiff closed in from above.

Seveten slowed down above them and smiled behind his helmet. They were hiding under cover of the trees, but he was an expert hunter. Cat and Mouse games were his speciality.

Silently, Barriss concentrated and used her levitation to not touch the ground. It was an extra strain as she carried Ahsoka, but she used this advantage to travel slowly and gently pasts trees and noisy terrain. Seveten was heard flying to and fro, searching, scanning. Ahsoka sensed his growing frustration and knew that if he became angry enough, he might punish Barriss.

In his frustrations, Seveten finally started ramming through trees, blasting them with flames, burning through the small forest with his eyes forever searching and hunting.

Barriss felt her heart burst in shame as she saw him destroying the natural beauty around them to flush her out. It was too much.

"STOP! I AM HERE!" She carried Ahsoka to an open space, a small field between the trees. Seveten hovered the skiff above them.

"You are wise to surrender. I grow tired of the chase. Barriss Offee, it warms my heart to find you again."

"Nice of you to almost get us both killed!" Barriss sighed defiantly up at him "Why are you doing this? You cannot just force me to be your pet!"

Ablok Seveten shrugged "I know you better than you know yourself, Barriss Offee, and I am 800% certain you and I are more alike than you think. You act very much the model of a modern Jedi, but deep down you are capable of so much more. All you need is the right push, the right motivation. With my help...and my love, you can become greater than the sum of your Jedi parts. There is a better, faster path you can walk to attain enlightenment."

"You are not making any sense, Seveten! You tried to play this offer to me once before, I am NOT INTERESTED! I served the Order and what it stands for and I will do what I must to protect the ideals of the Jedi."

"You both walked away from the Jedi when they discovered your secret" Seveten smiled, looking down on them "You betrayed the Order, and now you will take the next step. You will join me, and become the creature of darkness you were meant to be!"

Barriss shook her head "And why would I do that?"

"Because I will spare your lover Ahsoka if you surrender. You are both too weak to fight me. Surrender, Barriss Offee, and I will liberate you!"

"Ablok...you must let go of this obsession. I am not the person you think I can or should be" Barriss tried to reason "Whatever gave you the impression that I could turn in such a way...it is false. Whatever you saw in me, whatever conclusion you surmised...it was a lie. A deception you let yourself embrace. You wanted it so much you made it reality, but that is not who I am! I am not with the Order, and I can never go back, but that does not mean I do not hold these values dear to me..." Barriss bravely took Ahsoka's hand and faced him.

Seveten frowned at seeing she refused to accept the narrative he spun in his own demented mind. The reality he wanted to impose upon her was vanishing with her words.

"The great SAKUL has invoked that you and I were destined to become one with a darker path! Sakul proclaimed your fall and your betrayal in a vision! I SAW IT! IT IS TRUTH! IT IS SET IN STONE! Your love for this woman is FALSE! He has revealed your true nature, and I will embrace it as truth! AND SO WILL YOU!"

Ahsoka grimaced but talked in a whisper "He's gone off the deep end. Barriss, what are we going to do? You can't reason with him about who you are..."

Barriss sighed, wondering how she ever became the center of the universe, how she became such a focus for such a semantic thought. It was almost too much. Seveten aimed his gun and waited for her reply. Barriss let go of her disciplines and her feelings. There was no argument she could use against fanaticism.

She wondered if other women have suffered such unwanted attention. Wondered if there were men who simply shaped reality to suit their needs, with horrendous logic and flawed credibility, and the insatiable need to demand that everyone accept such conclusions. Men who would bully their way to control women like her, and terrorize until they got their way.

Barriss could fight him, but he would never stop. He would keep pursuing her. The only way she could ever stop him was unthinkable. She would have to kill him. And that would only justify his perverse version of her. He would win, either way.

Warrior Seveten had her exactly where he wanted her. And he knew it.

Barriss stood there with Ahsoka, realizing her next few words could save them both or end their lives. All she could do was cry with futility.

Ahsoka watched her as tears fell. Silver, shining, down her face. Like falling stars. A galaxy fell into ruin on her face as the ruthless mercenary held their fates in the balance on a world that was to be a place of celebration.

"I don't know why or how you crossed a path into my life. Or maybe I crossed a path into yours. I don't know, and at this point, it's not important. All I know is this...I want Ahsoka to live. I want her to go on and live a long life, happy and free. IF that means I must surrender to this...this *vision* you insist on...then so be it. If it will make your chirp like a happy little boy who pouts for his candy all the time, then so be it! If it will get you to STOP HURTING MY FRIENDS SO BE IT! Just...let Ahsoka live. Let me have one small page of happiness in this. All lives tell a story. I had hoped my story would be one of peace, and joy. A story of friendship. I cannot fathom why men like you seek to destroy it. I pity you that yours is a tale of woe and envy, prejudice and greed. You destroy all around you to possess what cannot be yours. I wonder if you understand love at all, that some of us sacrifice our love because of men like you and your great *Sakul*. I would wonder what kind of selfish God takes delight in destroying and changing others on a whim. Your God drives you, but he gives no love. All this power, but it is an empty vain superiority you lord over others. I think that's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.

Seveten waved off her platitudes "You will be happy. I will show you great delights and power on this path. Trust me, you'll be less boring this way, and your life won't be cheap."

As Warrior Seveten spoke and grinned, dreaming of a thousand days and nights with his Barriss Offee, he gasped in shock as a humming blade speared him from behind.

Ventress crept up to his ear from behind with a sultry smile "Poor little boy."

Seveten felt his life draining away as the fire of her blade burned his heart "Hairless harpy! I will be avenged!"

Ventress just smiled and let her lips brush against his face seductively "At least you won't die a cheap death."

Ventress kicked him off the skiff and he landed in the dirt without ceremony. Ventress landed the skiff and ran over to the two. She helped carry Ahsoka in her strong arms as Barriss sighed in relief. Barriss laid down Ahsoka and used her healing powers. Ahsoka's body still ached, but the aura of healing from her lover's hands made for a comforting warm glow, numbing down the pain. Several spontaneous kisses didn't hurt either. Both of them fought back tears, the stars from their soul that fell and burned away. Once again, they have faced adversity and triumphed.

They boarded the skiff and flew discreetly back to the city. Barriss contemplated much. What kind of future would be hers if she walked such a dark path? What if Ventress had not been there? What if she and Ahsoka were to ever be separated by the will of others? It has almost happened many times during the war, and again with the schemes of Captain Fin and his protege Seveten...

"Hey" Asajj snapped her out of it "It's over. Your life is now yours again, and you can choose any destination you desire. No man can force a path upon you. Put this behind you. No point in thinking about it."

Barriss and Ahsoka held hands "It doesn't bother you that Ahsoka and I are together? It seems to bother many people who call us...unnatural. Every time we try to choose our path together, there is so much resistance!"

They flew closer to the city, and could hear joyous singing from a chorus of revelers. There were some fireworks shooting off and exploding in bright colors in the night sky.

Ventress did not look at her, but gave a small shrug "There will always be men like Seveten. Where ever you may go, however you try to please people. Men like Seveten, Dooku, Grievous, Captain Fin...they will always attempt to force you down a path you know in your heart you cannot go. I thought I was destined to go down such a path. A dark, doomed path. But then I saw the love you two share. I saw hope and I saw determination when you defied Seveten. You would never give in to his perversions."

Ventress wiped one of her eyes but remained stoic. "Does it bother me that you two love each other? Never. Your love is a beacon. It fills my heart with hope. And as long as we have hope, we can fight for something greater than wealth and power. Greater than ego and possession. We fight against the Gods because they have no love. Sometimes we may lose those fights. It is true. But as long as your love holds on and keeps fighting, even in the face of a losing battle against vain men like Seveten and vain Gods like his Sakul, you bring a little victory into the hearts of others. You show us that love can survive in the face of temptation, death and destruction. You certainly have shown me. Your love is eternal, Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee. Never let any man or God tell you otherwise!"

Ventress flew the skiff to the city as the sun went down. The celebrations of Tambler made their hearts warm with joy again. They were alive, and the future was wide open again. Ahsoka kissed Barriss as they flew to the celebrations. The city showed off a firework display, and though they marveled at the beautiful explosions in the sky, it paled to the explosions in their hearts as they held hands.


End file.
